We deserve all these sports bosses?
There were twin speculations on what the head of our national delegation to the Incheon Asian Games would offer to do following the abominable showing of the Philippines in the quadrennial meet.
Richie Garcia, also the chair of the Philippine Sports Commission, would:
1) Offer to step down;
2) Make an apology
No way. Garcia, a tested escape artist, cooly turned the blame on poor Filipino athletes.
* * *
Garcia claimed all the failed Filipino performers in Incheon had lacked the winning drive.
Cried Garcia: “A little more push and they could’ve won those medals.”
That, of course, was a very serious indictment.
Question: Did Garcia bother to compare notes with his patron and master, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Jose Cojuangco, before offering the scathing assessment of Filipino performance in this year’s Asiad?
* * *
There had been no sign of Cojuangco in Incheon.
He has not issued a statement or whatever regarding the Philippine performance in this year’s Asiad.
In fairness to Garcia, he next offered something to soothe the national ego following the most shameful finish by the Philippines in the Asian Games since 1951.
He said they would next go for a strong finish, either third or fourth, in next year’s Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.
How that could compensate for the debacle in Incheon, only Garcia knows.
* * *
For the record, the Philippines registered a worst-ever seventh-place finish last year in the SEA Games in Burma (Myanmar), also under Garcia’s watch.
It would be recalled that Malacañang spokesperson Edwin Lacierda had tried to uphold, if not outright commend, the record Philippine flop in Burma.
This time around, Malacañang openly expressed displeasure over the country’s dismal failure in the Incheon Asiad.
Said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma: “There are a lot of lessons from the 2014 Asiad that we can use to improve our athletes in competitions to come.”
Correct. But to learn from the lessons in Incheon?
Coloma must be dreaming, considering how the jaded head of our national delegation conveniently tried to blame everybody else, except himself; while the affluent, untouchable head of the POC was nowhere in sight.
